XBB 1.16 variety may cause a Covid outbreak in Telangana.

The recent spike in Covid infections in Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, and other States is now thought to be caused by the rapidly increasing new recombinant variant XBB1.16 of SARS-CoV-2, which is thought to have originated in Maharashtra and then been documented elsewhere.

In several States, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Gujarat, Covid positivity has risen over the past few days. This rise coincides with the emergence of the regular H3N2 flu. Telangana registered 52 positive infections on Tuesday and 54 on Wednesday, while the Maharashtra health department reported 155 positive infections and two related fatalities on Tuesday.

The genomic data of new SARS-CoV-2 variants collected by GISAID, the organization that tracks new SARS-CoV-2 variants globally, in the last two weeks of February and the first two weeks of March has made it abundantly obvious that XBB 1.16 predominates in several Indian States.

Based on the information currently available from biologists and geneticists who are actively monitoring and finding new variants, XBB 1.16 experienced a nearly 2% growth rate in India during January and February and a nearly 40% growth rate by March. Although little is known about the virulence of XBB 1.16, the new variant can evade immunity, which is a major factor in its rapid dissemination. The novel recombinant variant is thought to have gained attention when Indian travelers tested positive for it in Singapore. The XBB1.16 version is currently used outside India in Singapore, the United States, and Brunei.

Until recently, the country's predominant SARS-CoV2 strain was the XBB 1.5. When two or more viruses simultaneously attack a cell, recombinant variants of SARS-CoV-2 like XBB and XBB1 and emerging new variants like XBB 1.16 are produced.

Co-infection is quite unlikely, but in India, Omicron sub-lineages have undergone recombination, resulting in recombinant variations. The XBB is a recombinant bloodline of Omicron's BA 2.75 and BJ 1 sub-lineages. According to GSAID records, the XBB 1.16 and XBB 1.5 are the XBB and XBB 1's immediate ancestors.